Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

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Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

By:

David Getman

Paula Sanders

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Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

By:

David Getman Paula Sanders

Online:

< http://cnx.org/content/col10289/1.3/ >

C O N N E X I O N S

Rice University, Houston, Texas

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Collection structure revised: June 12, 2006 PDF generated: October 25, 2012

For copyright and attribution information for the modules contained in this collection, see p. 30.

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Chapter 1

Introduction to Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

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Figure 1.1

1This content is available online at <http://cnx.org/content/m12842/1.6/>.

Available for free at Connexions <http://cnx.org/content/col10289/1.3>

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If you are researching the history of Britain or any countries with which it had a relationship (including Egypt, which is featured prominently in the Travelers in the Middle East Archive), the British Parliamentary Papers can be a crucial source. In this course, we explore how to use these political documents. The list of questions below guide you through the key concepts explored in the modules that comprise this course. If you would like to begin the course, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the link on the left. If you would like to jump to a specic location, browse the topics below and select any one of them to go right to the information you need.

What is the British Parliament? (Section 2.1: Introduction)

What is the History of the British Parliament? (Section 2.2: What is Parliament?) What is the House of Commons? (Section 2.2.1: House of Commons)

What is the House of Lords? (Section 2.2.2: House of Lords)

What are the Parliamentary Papers? (Section 2.3: What are the Parliamentary Papers?) How are the Parliamentary Papers organized? (Section 2.3.1: How they are organized)

The following list of questions are addressed in the How do I nd the information I need in the Parlia- mentary Papers? module.

What library resources can one use in searching the Parliamentary Papers? (Section 3.1: Fondren's Resources for the British Parliamentary Papers)

What can I expect to nd in a printed guide to the Parliamentary Papers? (Section 3.2: Guides to the Parliamentary Papers)

What can I expect to nd in a printed index for the Parliamentary Papers? (Section 3.3: Indexes for the Parliamentary Papers)

What can I expect to nd in an electronic index for the Parliamentary Papers? (Section 3.4: Fondren's electronic index for the House of Commons Papers)

How do I locate a document from the Parliamentary Papers from the collection on microform? (Sec- tion 3.5: Locating a Document From the Parliamentary Papers on Microform at Fondren)

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Chapter 2

The British Parliament and its Papers

¹

Figure 2.1: PalaceOfWestminsterAtNight Photograph ©Andrew Dunn, 29 September 2004.

2.1 Introduction

The British Parliament is the legislative body of Government in the United Kingdom. It is an institution of government that can trace its roots back to the thirteenth century and beyond. Being a body of appointed and elected representatives of the British constituency, the Parliament itself can be seen as the institutional bridge between Medieval monocracy and modern democracy in Europe.

Here we will provide a brief introduction to Parliament and a guide to researching the records of its operation in the Parliamentary Papers. The Parliamentary Papers hold the documentation of detailed investigations performed by committees of experts, heated debates between the heads of state, and the legislative paths of governmental policies all responding to historical events in the UK and around the world for over ve-hundred years. Thus the Parliamentary Papers can be an invaluable research source for projects investigating not only the history of Great Britain, but also of any country with which Englad had signicant relations.

Taking a moment to learn a bit about what Parliament is and how it works will be extremely helpful throughout your research in the Parliamentary Papers. The following is a brief introduction to the workings

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of Parliament with links to more thorough explanations from the UK Parliament website² . At any time during your research, if you should ne a term or concept that need further explanation, the UK Parliament website has thorough descriptions of what Parliament is³and what Parliament does⁴ as well as an extensive glossary of related terms⁵.

2.2 What is Parliament?

The word parliament is derived from the English pronunciation (par-ley) of the French verb parler, meaning to speak. A parlement, in French, is a discussion, especially between enemies concerning the terms of resolving a dispute. The Oxford English Dictionary provides a detailed examination of the etymology of the word Parliament⁶.

The rst English Parliament was formed during the reign of King Henry III in the thirteenth- century.

Click here for a detailed account of the History of Parliament⁷ . In the United Kingdom, Parliament is a three tiered legislative system, composed of the House of Commons⁸, the House of Lords⁹, and the Monarch.

It is the institution that introduces bills and passes them into laws in the UK.

2.2.1 House of Commons

The House of Commons¹⁰is directly elected by British citizens. The political party that wins the most seats in an election forms the government, and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister. This House is responsible for introducing legislation that is then voted on and sent for approval to the House of Lords.

Click here to have a look into the Chamber House of Commons¹¹ .

2.2.2 House of Lords

The House of Lords¹² is a body of appointed representatives. This House is responsible for reviewing the Bills presented to it by the House of Commons before presenting them to the Monarch for ocial ratication.

Have a look into the Chamber of the House of Lords¹³ .

2.2.3 Westminster System

This type of legislative organization is known as the Westminster System, after the Westminster Palace in which the UK Parliament is located. It can be found, with some variation, in many of the former possessions of now defunct British Empire, including Australia, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. The Westminster system consists of a system in which one house is elected and the other appointed, an executive branch made up of members of the legislature, the presence of opposition parties, and a ceremonial head of state, who is dierent from the head of government.

Just to get a feel for what we are discussing, let's take a moment and peek in on today's session in the House of Commons and the House of Lords at a website called Parliamentlive.TV¹⁴. Once you bring up the

2http://www.parliament.uk/

3http://www.parliament.uk/faq/parlgov_faq.cfm#gov1

4http://www.explore.parliament.uk/parliament.aspx?id=2

5http://www.parliament.uk/glossary/glossary.cfm

6http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50171816?query_type=word&queryword=parliament&rst=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=bWxU- 5HbiyX-5222&hilite=50171816

7http://www.parliament.uk/works/parliament.cfm#sdemonfo

8http://www.parliament.uk/works/commonsgeneral.cfm

9http://www.parliament.uk/works/lords.cfm

10http://www.parliament.uk/works/commonsgeneral.cfm

11http://www.explore.parliament.uk/Parliament.aspx?id=123&subSection=true

12http://www.parliament.uk/works/lords.cfm

13http://www.explore.parliament.uk/Parliament.aspx?id=125&subSection=true

14http://www.parliamentlive.tv/

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5 page, just click on the either of the Watch Now options, or it there are none then select the Archives option to the left and look for the Watch Now option there and then listen in.

What you have just heard is the product of over seven-hundred years of development in the style of British Government. Fortunately, most of that development has been annotated and archived and is available for us to peruse in our research projects in the form of the collected Parliamentary Papers.

2.3 What are the Parliamentary Papers?

The Parliamentary Papers are the record of Parliamentary deliberations in the form of bills, reports, minutes, committee proceedings, and appropriations. Each time Parliament meets the record grows with the addition of new documentation. The purpose of this collection is to provide Parliament itself with a detailed record of everything that was discussed and concluded as well as to provide those outside Parliament with access to the proceedings throughout the history of the institution.

2.3.1 How they are organized

There are many dierent types of documents among the Parliamentary Papers. Initially, locating the information you need may seem daunting. However, once you become acquainted with the organization of the documents you will be able to narrow your search down to specic areas and the collection will prove an invaluable resource for your research. Here we will provide a brief outline of the organization of the Parliamentary Papers with links to further explanations of each area. Basically, there are four types of Parliamentary Papers:

Votes and Proceedings or Minute Books

These are the daily record of things done in Parliament. Also known as Blue Papers, Vote Bundles, or just the Vote, the information contained in these papers is made available to the Members of Parliament each day to keep everyone abreast of the agenda and its relation to the preceding days including notices of questions, motions and amendments, agenda for the day, proceedings of recent sittings of standing committees, collected and marshaled lists of amendments to be proposed.

Journals

These are the ocial and permanent record of the proceedings of the Parliament compiled each day from the information contained in the Votes and Proceedings or Minute Books. They include motions passed, amended, withdrawn, committee memberships, and lists of papers laid before each House. A journal usually covers one complete Parliamentary session. The Journals are not a record of what was actually said, but rather a report on the activities of Parliament.

Debates

Debates are the records of parliamentary speeches. They are the ocial record of things actually said in Parliament, verbatim and in the rst person. Until the early twentieth-century the published Debates were unocial and often based on secondary reports such as newspaper articles. The collections of the Debates are often referred to as Hansard's, after Thomas Curson Hansard, who took over the publishing of the debates in 1806. The publishing of the debates stayed in the Hansard family until 1909 when the task was appointed to the Stationary Oce. Beginning in 1909 the House of Commons and Lords Debates were separated. Prior to 1909 the two houses of Parliament jointly published their debates.

Sessional Papers

These are the working documents of each session of Parliament including bills, reports from committees, State Papers, papers presented by Royal Commissions or by Government departments, and statements of Governmental policy. Collected sets of Sessional Papers are sometimes referred to as Blue Books, both terms are sometimes used in reference to Parliamentary Papers in their entirety, but the Sessional Papers are actually only a part of the Parliamentary Papers, so this alternate reference is misleading. It is best to take the term Sessional Papers in its most specic capacity to avoid confusion. They include Bills, Parliamentary Committee reports and proceedings, and Command Papers. The following is a brief list of titles and descriptions of the most common types of documents you will nd in the Sessional Papers. The

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House of Commons Sessional Papers and House of Lords Papers take the same organizational form. Because the two Houses pass documents from one to the other much of the House of Lords papers is included in the House of Commons collections. However, what is not included is separately collected in the House of Lords Papers. The House of Commons Sessional Papers consist of three series: House of Commons Bills, House of Commons Papers, and the Command Papers. These three series of papers are each organized into four classes, listed below.

1) Public Bills

A Bill is a proposal for a new law which is debated by Parliament. A Bill becomes an Act when it has received Royal Assent. A Bill may be introduced into either House, with the exception of Money Bills which the Lords cannot initiate or amend.

The procedure of passing a Public Bill is similar in both Houses. The stages are: rst reading; second reading; committee stage; report stage; third reading; passage through the House of Lords; Royal Assent.

Public Bills include all bills introduced into the House of Commons by a Member or brought from the House of Lords. In contrast, a private bill would be one introduced by an individual or an organization 2)Committee Reports

A lot of the work of the House of Commons and the House of Lords is done by committees which are usually made up of relatively small numbers of MPs or Peers. In such committees issues can be reviewed and discussed in detail. There are several types of committee including Standing Committees, Select Committees, Joint Select Committees, and Grand Committees. Committee Reports include:

Standing Committee Debates

A Standing Committee is a committee set up by the House of Commons to consider the details of a particular Bill. All Bills other than Money Bills are automatically sent to a Standing Committee following their second reading unless they are committed to a Committee of the Whole House. These are the minutes of their consideration of the Bills and any amendments they add or suggest. Although they are called standing committees which suggests that they are permanent committees, they only last for the duration of the Bill concerned.

Reports of Select Committees or House Papers

In the House of Commons select committees look at the work of Government Departments. In the House of Lords they investigate issues such as science and technology, the economy and the European Union.

Occasionally a committee will form a sub committee to look at one issue in greater depth. A number of Select Committees assist with the domestic responsibilities of the House and are generally referred to as Domestic Committees. These are the reports from select committees inside the House providing information to members.

Joint Committees consist of Members from both Houses. Grand Committees are three in number repre- senting the interests of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

3) Reports from Commissioners

A Royal Commission is a selected group of people appointed by the Government to investigate a matter of important public concern and to make recommendations on any actions to be taken. Often the persons are considered to be experts on the subject. These reports often reect at least a year of investigation, some producing annual reports.

4) Accounts and Papers

These include the Command Papers, state papers, policy papers, annual reports, reports of Royal Commis- sions, tribunals and commissions of inquiry, departmental committees, and statistical reports.

Command Paper

A Command Paper is the collective name given to dierent types of papers prepared by the Government and presented to Parliament. The name Command Paper comes from the fact that these papers are presented to Parliament with the words presented to Parliament by command of His/Her Majesty.

White Paper

White Papers are documents produced by the Government setting out details of future policy on a particular subject. A White Paper will often be the basis for a Bill to be put before Parliament. The White Paper allows the Government an opportunity to gather feedback before it formally presents the policies as a Bill.

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7 Green paper

Green papers are consultation documents produced by the Government. Often when a Government Depart- ment is considering introducing a new law, it will put together a discussion document called a Green Paper.

The aim of this document is to allow people both inside and outside Parliament to debate the subject and give the department feedback on its suggestions.

Returns

Returns are reports from Governmental departments, usually of a statistical nature.

Act Papers

Act Papers required by an Act of Parliament to be laid before the House for consideration.

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Chapter 3

Finding What You are Looking For in the British Parliamentary Papers

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Introduction

The British Parliamentary Papers contain a wealth of information about both domestic and international issues and events aecting the British Empire. Research libraries such as Fondren Library provide a variety of resources for using the British Parliamentary Papers, including guides, summaries, indexes, and an extensive collection of the papers themselves on Microform. Here we will begin by acquainting ourselves with these resources and then begin locating specic information in the papers themselves.

3.1 Fondren's Resources for the British Parliamentary Papers

Let's begin by taking a look at the resources available at Fondren Library, our example library (other research libraries have similar resources). First, we will perform a very basic search of the catalog for anything relating to the Parliamentary Papers. For a brief tutorial on how to use this resource, please visit our WebCat module.

Visit the WebCat²online catalog, enter the words parliamentary papers into the text box, select the keyword option and then select Search Everything. Your query should look like this.

Figure 3.1

Among the items in the collection at Fondren we nd everything we need for our introduction to the Parliamentary Papers, including:

2http://alexandria.rice.edu

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Figure 3.2

a comprehensive guide to the Parliamentary Papers (Section 3.2: Guides to the Parliamentary Papers) and how to use them that is shelved under reference

Figure 3.3

and a copy in the stacks in case you would like to check it out and take it home,

Figure 3.4

an electronic index to the House of Commons Papers (Section 3.4: Fondren's electronic index for the House of Commons Papers) that allows you to search the papers in a variety of ways,

Figure 3.5

a complete set of Parliamentary Papers from 1801-1900,

Figure 3.6

from 1901-1921,

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11

Figure 3.7

and from 1922-1944/45,

Figure 3.8

as well as a bound index (Section 3.3: Indexes for the Parliamentary Papers) categorized by subject for the entire nineteenth century.

Fondren also oers an online Guide to the British Parliamentary Papers³ , including a comprehensive list of the resources available on line and in the stacks. Let's begin with the bound guides.

3.2 Guides to the Parliamentary Papers

Here we will take a look through a comprehensive guide to the Parliamentary Papers to give you an idea of what you can expect to nd in them. This type of publication has proven invaluable in the creation of this module and should come in very handy as a reference source in any research project involving the Parliamentary Papers.

Figure 3.9

Percy and Grace Ford are the authors of our preferred guide to the parliamentary papers entitled "Guide to Parliamentary Papers; what they are, how to nd them, how to use them." A quick browse through the contents will show that many of the questions you might come up with in your searches have their answers in these pages.

3http://www.rice.edu/fondren/gov/bpp.html

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Figure 3.10

Let's have a look at the table of contents to get an idea of how the book is arranged. We nd that we are oered exactly what we were promised:

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13

Figure 3.11

What they are,

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Figure 3.12

How to nd them,

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15

Figure 3.13

and How to use them.

Take notice of the headings here. You will see many familiar terms from the The British Parliament and its Papers section of this course. These terms were introduced there for the same reason that they appear as headings here. They represent documents of a specic type, each with its own purpose in the business of Parliament. Their signicance as headings is determined by the role they play in the daily operation of the Parliament in relation to other documents, represented by other headings. The function of a document in the legislative process, the location of that document in the Papers, and the type of information contained in its text are all closely related in ways you will become more and more familiar with as your research brings you in contact with a wider variety of them.

As you continue on with your research you will come upon many new types of documents. Take note of where they are located, how they are placed in the larger organization of the Papers as a whole, and what kinds of information they provide you with. These connections, closely linked with the actual operation of the Parliamentary process, will eventually illuminate the logic of their organization and make hunting for specic bits of information more intuitive than it is in the beginning.

3.3 Indexes for the Parliamentary Papers

Here we will take a look through an index for exactly one-hundred years of Parliamentary business.

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Figure 3.14

Peter Cockton's index for the nineteenth-century consists of ve volumes and can give you a good idea about how the papers will be categorized.

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Figure 3.15

Let's take a look through the table of contents and some of the groupings the papers are classied under.

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Figure 3.16

We begin with the Constitution itself,

Figure 3.17

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19 then we move into its legislative application in the Parliament,

Figure 3.18

a little further we nd documents having to do with the central-most government issues,

Figure 3.19

moving outward to those of the distant periphery.

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Figure 3.20

Every entry is uniformly categorized so that you can easily move from it to the actual document containing the information you seek. The Papers themselves are arranged chronologically in the collection, as we will see when we begin searching the documents themselves. The organization by subject we nd here is simply a convienience meant to make locating a paper in the collection as easy as possible. Take careful note of all of the information listed for each entry that you nd an interest in, every number and letter plays an important role in the specic location of the item you seek in the vast collection of documents.

3.4 Fondren's electronic index for the House of Commons Papers

To access the electronic searchable index for the Parliamentary Papers you must use a CD-ROM; at Fondren Library, it is available at the reference desk.Once you have it loaded on the screen it should look like this.

Since we are trying to establish the political context around "The Egyptian Red Book" and one of its chief characters, General Gordon, we have entered the word "Gordon" into the keyword box to get us started.

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21

Figure 3.21

Notice that you also have a number of additional search options. Once you become more familiar with the dierent types of papers and information they contain you will be able to more fully utilize these options.

Here we will be performing a very basic keyword search.

Figure 3.22

Everything is sorted by date, as you can see. If we scroll down to the dates that pertain to the Egyptian Red Book, the 1880's, then we nd some interesting options having to do with General Gordon. Select the rst to view a full entry.

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Figure 3.23

Here we nd a Command Paper (Command Paper, p. 6) with an estimate for how much it will cost HM (his majesty) to save General Gordon, information that the authors would have loved to have come across to be sure.

Figure 3.24

Here we have a dispatch from the Consul-Gen of Egypt with instructions for General Gordon.

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23

Figure 3.25

And nally we have the text of an actual proclamation from General Gordon to the inhabitants of the Sudan.

Notice the many identiers for each entry to the right of the information. With this information in hand we will be able to locate a page from history in the many millions in the collection at Fondren with very little trouble at all. Let's locate the three we have so far.

3.5 Locating a Document From the Parliamentary Papers on Micro- form at Fondren

For a brief review of using the Microform resources please visit our Microform module. Otherwise, let's begin with our rst document.

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Figure 3.26

Remember, the Parliamentary Papers for the nineteenth-century are listed under the call number J301.K539

Figure 3.27

Scanning the folders in the le which are sorted by date and volume number we quickly nd what we are looking for.

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25

Figure 3.28

Notice that at the top of the card all of the information listed in the printed and computer le index appears. This is how the Papers are organized and stored. Observing the millions of images in the thousands of les we can be thankful that they are. Let's pull one up and take a look. Once you have the Microche loaded into the machine, if you need a review of how to do this, click here

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Figure 3.29

You will notice that the corresponding page number at the bottom left of the page, here 318. Now glance to the top of the page.

Figure 3.30

You will notice our title, "Relief of General Gordon." Finally, we see in the middle of the page the information we seek.

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27

Figure 3.31

Using the same steps we can locate our second document on page 359 of Microche number 90.753, Gordon's proclamation to the inhabitants of the Sudan.

Figure 3.32

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The page numbers used to describe the location of the information you are looking for appear at dierent locations on the page. They are at times printed and at others hand written elsewhere on the page. It is always important to look to the surrounding pages to orient yourself to the particular organization of the documents you are looking at at the moment. Remember, these documents have been collected over hundreds of years by as many individuals. They are organized enough that we might learn how to search through them, but no such system can be expected to be perfect. Always record every piece of information you are oered concerning the location of a document in the Papers; you will probably need it.

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INDEX 29

Index of Keywords and Terms

Keywords are listed by the section with that keyword (page numbers are in parentheses). Keywords do not necessarily appear in the text of the page. They are merely associated with that section. Ex.

apples, 1.1 (1) Terms are referenced by the page they appear on. Ex. apples, 1

B

British Empire, 1(1), 2(3) British Parliamennt, 2(3) British Parliament, 1(1), 3(9) British parliamentary papers, 1(1)

E

Egyptian Red Book, 3(9)

H

History Methodology, 1(1), 2(3) History Research, 1(1)

L

library research, 2(3)

P

Parliamentary Papers, 2(3) Parlimentary Papers, 3(9)

T

TIMEA, 1(1), 2(3), 3(9)

Travelers in the Middle East Archive, 1(1),

2(3), 3(9)

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Attributions

Collection: Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers Edited by: David Getman, Paula Sanders

URL: http://cnx.org/content/col10289/1.3/

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Introduction to Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers"

By: David Getman, Paula Sanders

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m12842/1.6/

Pages: 1-2

Copyright: David Getman, Paula Sanders

Module: "The British Parliament and its Papers"

Pages: 3-7

Module: "Finding What You are Looking For in the British Parliamentary Papers"

Pages: 9-28

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Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

This course is designed to introduce you to the basic structure of the British Parliament and the organization of its historical documents.

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Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

By:

David Getman

Paula Sanders

Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

By:

David Getman Paula Sanders

Online:

< http://cnx.org/content/col10289/1.3/ >

C O N N E X I O N S

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Introduction to Conducting Research with the British Parliamentary Papers

Chapter 2

The British Parliament and its Papers

2.1 Introduction

2.2 What is Parliament?

2.2.1 House of Commons

2.2.2 House of Lords

2.2.3 Westminster System

2.3 What are the Parliamentary Papers?

2.3.1 How they are organized

Chapter 3

Finding What You are Looking For in the British Parliamentary Papers

3.1 Fondren's Resources for the British Parliamentary Papers

3.2 Guides to the Parliamentary Papers

3.3 Indexes for the Parliamentary Papers

3.4 Fondren's electronic index for the House of Commons Papers

3.5 Locating a Document From the Parliamentary Papers on Micro- form at Fondren

Index of Keywords and Terms

B

E

H

L

P

T

Attributions